


Sink or Swim: Blind Date Edition

by Carrot_Bunny



Series: MakoHaru Festival 2015 [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Blatant ripping off Wipeout USA, Comedy, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 07:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3349124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrot_Bunny/pseuds/Carrot_Bunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Makoto normally never made any plans for Valentine’s Day, being single and all, but his younger siblings had other ideas. Still, participating in a reality game show was the last thing he would’ve imagined doing." Written for the Official Makoharu Festival 2015 - it's posted on their Tumblr page now!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sink or Swim: Blind Date Edition

Makoto normally never made any plans for Valentine’s Day, being single and all, but his younger siblings had other ideas. Still, participating in a reality game show was the last thing he would’ve imagined doing.

In accordance with the occasion, the show was having a special ‘blind date’ edition where participants would be paired up with a stranger of the opposite gender. Makoto’s partner seemed nice enough, but her initial cheery demeanor and playful banter soon turned to incessant rants about another female contestant who apparently was a rival in the office.

Makoto wasn’t too disappointed though. He was too distracted by the rival’s dark-haired ‘blind date’ to be offended.

The first round began with all eight pairs on a revolving carousel. Although they were spinning around at a rather moderate pace, nearly all the contestants were rather reluctant to leave the starting point. Makoto was one of the first to take that first step onto the walkway beside and had a few moments to register that the male participant from before was right behind him before having to concentrate on not getting knocked off the walkway by swinging battering rams. He’d just made it to the end of the walkway when he heard a splash behind him and turned to see that the other had been knocked into the pool below the walkway. However, he watched in amazement as the fallen man began to swim for the starting end of the walkway without a moment’s hesitation, looking as if he’d learned to swim freestyle before he could even walk. It wasn’t until he’d climbed back up onto the walkway to try crossing again that Makoto remembered he had an obstacle course to finish and hurriedly jumped onto a platform rocking side to side, only to miss and fall into the water himself.

Before long, four teams had been eliminated and four others proceeded to the second round. Luckily only one half of a team was required to complete the round successfully for them to advance, for Makoto’s partner never got past the rocking platform and Haruka’s was still stranded at the starting point. The two of them had had time to exchange names after finishing the obstacle course close on each other’s heels and had just discovered they’d both swum for their school teams in high school when the host brought over their partners. While Makoto’s teammate was smiling for the cameras and gushing to the host about how she was so lucky to have been paired up with such a cool guy, Haruka left his partner to glare daggers in peace and went to stand beside Makoto. “Think we can get away with purposely eliminating ourselves in the next round?”

Makoto chuckled. “I suppose your ‘date’ has already had enough of the game?”

Haruka stared pointedly at him. “I didn’t mean her, I was talking about you. I’m not patient enough to wait until the end of the show so I can talk to you again.”

Before Makoto could do more than blink in surprise, the host was already herding them towards the next part of the game. Here Haruka’s plan was unfortunately rendered useless, as it was only a bonus round where the best team got an extra sum of money added to the grand prize should they win in the finals. The course was a pool of green slime which the female of each team was required to wade across, with the one who advanced the farthest as the winner. If there was a tie, the male was required to go next and both partner’s distances would be added up to judge the highest score.

As Haruka’s ‘date’ squealed her disgust all the way while steadily sinking into the slime as she tried to move forward, Makoto remarked, “That slime does look rather sticky.”

Haruka only replied with a mild “Yeah” and Makoto berated himself for making such a stupid comment. Then, “So how did you end up in this show?”

“My younger siblings Ran and Ren signed me up. I didn’t even know until the studio contacted me. They insisted they wanted their big brother to ‘go out and do something on Valentine’s’.” Makoto smiled at the memory. “What about you?”

“Rin sent in an application in my name. Said it would be hilarious to watch me make a fool of myself on TV.”

Makoto laughed lightly. “She sounds like she has a strange sense of humor.”

“Rin’s a guy.”

“Oh.” 

“It’s a common mistake. Same goes for me too.” Haruka shrugged. “Judging from your name, I suppose you’ve had similar experiences before?”

“Yeah. Apparently girly names are another thing we have in common.” Makoto felt a strange thrill at the sound of Haruka’s chuckle, just as his partner lost her balance and fell face first into the slime.

With the start of the third round, everyone found themselves at one end of a flying fox contraption with the landing point a good two-thirds of the way down. One of the other couples, who apparently had built up quite a good rapport going between them, decided to take off first, only for one to end up suspended in mid-air as her momentum ran out while her partner shot straight past the landing point like a bullet and crashed into the cushioned wall at the end of the line. As he dropped into the water, the two workplace rivals set aside their differences and unanimously declared that they would prefer staying at the starting line, thank you very much.

That was it, then. The current round required both partners to complete the course in order to go on to the finals. Makoto was watching the other couple land safely on the landing point when he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Oi Makoto, give me a hand.”

He raised an eyebrow as Haruka grabbed one of the handlebars. “You still want to continue?”

“It beats standing around here waiting for the other two teams to finish so we can go home. If you push me, I’ll catch you before you pass the landing point.”

Makoto shrugged. Might as well anyway. As he put his hands on both sides of Haruka’s waist, he suddenly thought about how firm the other’s muscles were. To put off that weird thought, he began with a running start before applying force and letting go as Haruka sailed away from the edge of the starting platform. Makoto waited until he’d landed safely before pushing himself off as well.

As the landing point grew closer and closer, Makoto saw Haruka spread his arms out wide. Being he shorter of the two, the only way the blue-eyed young man could hope to catch his new partner was to envelope him in a bear hug. A thousand thoughts popped up in Makoto’s mind as he flew into Haruka’s embrace. His feet touched the ground and he stood there dazed for a while, but Haruka was already tugging insistently on his elbow as he led them towards the next obstacle.

They made it through heavy cascades of water from above and rapidly rotating platforms before they were confronted with a huge tub filled with soap suds that tilted back and forth. If they could jump into the tub successfully and then jump onto the finishing point at the other end, they would’ve completed the course.

Haruka took one look at the heart shapes on the sides of the tub and scoffed. “What’s this, the Bubble Bath of Love?”  
For some reason, the remark coupled with the sight of a guy who he’d never even met until two hours ago dripping water from his hair, wearing a look of disdain on his face and looking utterly beautiful caused Makoto to burst out into laughter. “Well let’s go for it!” he cried as he pulled Haruka’s hand and leaped into the foam.

Their legs immediately gave way under them as the tub tilted forward. Makoto went under and came up spurting out soap suds all over Haruka’s hair. “Sorry,” he grinned guiltily.

Haruka simply looked away. “Never mind,” he grunted, although Makoto could’ve sworn he was blushing. Then the tub tilted backwards, and Haruka came sliding into his arms.

The tub seemed intent on mocking them both as it went back and forth, sloshing its two occupants around its slippery contents. In an attempt to steady himself, Haruka put his arms around Makoto and held on tightly to his back. Makoto didn’t hesitate to do the same.

“Not too bad for a blind date, huh?” he said in Haruka’s ear.

The smaller man tightened his hold on Makoto’s shoulder blades. “Let’s just get off this damn tub.”

“Agreed.” Makoto maneuvered Haruka to face the front, then, “One, two, jump!” and they leapt off the tub, sliding across the finish line with a trail of soap suds behind them.

Makoto got to his knees and glanced down at Haruka, who was wearing a headdress of bubbles. “You said something about getting home early before?”

“The sooner the better,” Haruka affirmed as he accepted the hand up.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I actually watched that episode of Wipeout USA that inspired this fic last Christmas, not during Valentine’s. Apparently my local TV station thought it made for a good Christmas morning special program. Go figure.
> 
> Also, the title came from an early draft I had of this fic where I included the name of the game show. Not very original, I know (ahaha… ha.)


End file.
